The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
(Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)
As brilliant as the first season was, the second season of Louis CK’s Louie (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) was even more so, plussing across the board with episodes that included Louie confronting Dane Cook, sleeping with Joan Rivers, and even traveling to Iraq. Just watch the damn thing already. Bonus materials include audio commentaries on select episodes.
On the go and want the itty bittiest little stylus you can get for your smartphone? Look no further than the teeny little MicroStylus Compact Capacitive Touch Stylus ($9.99), a little nub of a thing that works a charm and is storable in your device’s headphone jack.
While I can’t envision the art form returning, The Artist (Sony, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP) is a beautifully evocative homage to the era of the silent film and the artists who made tem larger than life, even as sound came in and shook the very foundations of the industry. For once, the hype was accurate. Do see it. Bonus materials include featurettes and a blooper reel.
Every so often, a modern take on a classic property makes it work, and much like the equally successful Brady Bunch Movie before it, 21 Jump Street (Sony, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP) makes that leap by planting tongue in cheek while walking a fine line between comedy and ridicule, aided and abetted by a grounded story and winning turns from Jonah Hill & Channing Tatum. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.
If you still miss the lovely character absurdities to be found in Dr. Katz, look no further than Lisa Kudrow’s Web Therapy (E1, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), which stars Kudrow is an online therapist with little patience for her patients – who include the likes of Alan Cumming, Courtney Cox, Victor Garber, Jane Lynch, Steven Weber, Lily Tomlin, and more. The first season set contains audio commentaries, a featurette, outtakes, and a season 2 preview.
While in many ways a by-the-numbers romantic comedy, what makes Love Birds (Freestyle, Rated PG-13, DVD-$14.99 SRP) worth your valuable viewing time is that its leads are Rhys Darby and Sally Hawkins, both of whom elevate the material immensely. Bonus features include an audio commentary and a featurette.
It may be a frothy romantic comedy about a pair of famous Brits who set up a fake wedding to a fake bride to send paparazzi on a false trail while they have their real nuptials, but The Decoy Bride (IFC, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$29.98 SRP) gains a fair amount of goodwill just by casting David Tennant as the groom in this mad scheme. Bonus materials include a featurette, a deleted scene, and interviews.
Adding to Universal’s 100th anniversary celebrations is the high definition arrival of Oliver Stone’s Born On The 4th Of July (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.98 SRP). Bonus materials include an audio commentary and a trio of featurettes.
Disney has been steadily increasing to a torrent the high-definition releases from their catalogue of titles, particularly those from Touchstone & Hollywood Pictures. That means this week brings the new-to-high-def release of Mel Gibson in Ransom (Touchstone, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$20.00 SRP), Madonna in Evita (Hollywood Pictures, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$26.50 SRP), and Christian Bale singing and dancing in Newsies (Walt Disney, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$26.50 SRP). Bonus features include audio commentaries, featurettes, and more.
And speaking of Disney catalogue releases, they’ve brought out hi-def editions of a pair of their latter (and lesser) period animated films… In fact, many consider both Treasure Planet and particularly Home On The Range (Walt Disney, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP each) to be the lackluster duds that marked the end of traditional animation at Disney in the early aughts. And yes, they are both awkward films to sit through, but certainly not abysmal. They’re no All Dogs Go To Heaven 3. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, bonus shorts, music videos, and more.
The still-legendary and goofy fun – if not terribly good – sci-fi sexploitation film Barbarella (Paramount, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP) makes its debut in high definition, which means you can ogle Jane Fonda and try to comprehend the script in exquisite detail. Sadly, there are no bonus features to be found.
While I thought it would be the lesser of the two Snow White films to come down the pike, Mirror Mirror (Fox, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) if only because its simple reinterpretation of an evil queen (Julia Roberts) out to shove Snow White aside to win the hand of the Prince is far less pretentious and self-important than that whole Huntsman fiasco. Bonus materials include featurettes and deleted scenes.
Sideshow’s previously released premium figures pulled from the Disney animated pantheon – including Snow White‘s evil Queen, Maleficent, and Chernabog – have been nothing to shake a stick at, but by leaps and bounds, my favorite is the recently release Captain Hook ($324.99), from the classic Peter Pan. Not only does the sculpt capture Hook’s mad Ahab-esque obsession with killing Pan, but the fabric clothing accurately reflects its 2D inspiration. If that weren’t enough, the piece also comes with the secondary bane of Hook’s existence – the persistent Tick Tock Crocodile. And, if you’re able to pick up the Sideshow exclusive edition, definitely do so, as you get a swappable hook hand with Peter’s hat.
So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…
-Ken Plume
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It was seen as a strident, preachy end to The Little Tramp when it originally premiered, but the years have proven what lovely political stand Charlie Chaplin was taking with 
If you’re not wanting to spring for an expensive pad but you need to eliminate heat build-up under your laptop, try the 
It’s always a beautiful thing to see two actors at the top of their game, particularly when they’re both in the same film. 
It’s not Pixar, but 
If you’re looking for pulse-pounding cinematic science fiction, you’re not going to find it in Andrei Tarkovsky’s 
If Apocalypse Now is the operatic version of the Vietnam War, then Oliver Stone’s 
If you’ve held off on picking 
Studios can latch onto just about any day and turn it into an excuse to release a special anniversary edition of one of their catalogue titles, and Warners has done just that with a pair of new-to-Blu-Ray titles ostensibly making their debut to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War – 
Long before Days of Thunder or Hal Needham, 
While Warners releases Grand Prix on Blu-Ray, Paramount digs up the Steve McQueen racing movie 
Previously available, for some reason you can now pick up a standalone edition of Sylvester Stallone’s 
Has the Royal Wedding already come and gone? So fast! If you’d like to relive all of the memories, the BBC has put together an overview of their coverage titled, appropriately, 
As kids growing up in the 80’s, I think we knew instinctively when something was a low-rent rip-off of a far more popular property, and that’s exactly what I felt about the Gobots, which were the bane of any kid hoping to get a Transformers figure from a clueless (often frugal) parent. Relive just how sad the rip-off was with Warner Archive’s release of the original miniseries 
While I wouldn’t say it’s a great, must-see film, 
I think the most endearing thing about Nickelodeon’s CG-animated series 
Have running out of ice roads to be anticlimactic on, the franchise has decided to further move the whole affair into artifice by dropping the drivers into crazy dangerous roads around the world with the first season of 
Via rare archival footage and personal interviews, the History Channel documentary 
You know, if they’d actually given half an effort to make 
Before he moved on to making big-budget blasé blockbusters, Ron Howard put his child actor past behind him as part of Roger Corman’s stable of actor/filmmakers, as the latest double feature release from the Corman Collection will enlighten you with 
I think it largely disappeared from theaters, which is a shame, because 
Want a little bit of quick, cheap work area light with the convenience of USB? Then the 
If you enjoyed the Ricky Gervais podcast, the animated versions made from those recordings and presented as 
After a smattering of single-disc releases, the long-awaited second volume of 
When I first saw 
The fourth season of 
Like most Ron Howard films, I found 
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ABC Family’s 
Yeah, Family Guy‘s Star Wars parodies are largely inferior to Robot Chicken‘s, but that’s largely due to the former’s shoehorning of their characters into the roles, instead of being allowed to just play with the universe as it exists. Thankfully, they’ve come to an end with the 3rd and final installment, 
It’s a daunting proposition, revisiting a film that defined the 80’s with the simple phrase “Greed Is Good”, and I’m not entirely sure Oliver Stone succeeds with 
For fans eager for its release the wait for the complete high definition release of 
The idea of carrying on a TV series in comic book form – written by the showe’s creator and writers – is actually a pretty good idea. Sadly, 
The Warner Archive Collection certainly has been going full bore when it comes to their catalogue releases, and have ramped up things considerably on the animated side. I mean, I don’t think anyone ever expected they might one day be able to purchase a complete series set of Hanna-Barbera’s short-lived 
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If you’ve been looking for the perfect headwear to not only keep your noggin warm, but also show that you are a loyal officer serving the Empire, you’ll want to pick up your very own 
Got a Blu-Ray player? Like science fiction? Well, Warners has gotten a weekend filler for you, as they’ve unloaded quite an impressive stash of high-def catalogue releases appealing to those of the geek persuasion – titles like 
After a declining 4th season, 
While the US awaits the DVD release of Matt Smith’s first season of the Doctor, fans can fill the void with a trio of classic releases featuring a pair of Peter Davison adventures – 
Just as scathing and satirical as it was upon its release, Robert Altman’s comeback film 
Superman in everything that name, the creators behind 
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Originally released years ago, 
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The adventures of the slightly older Ben continue in 
Put Deadwood & Big Love into a blender, throw the contents onto some Harleys, and you’ve pretty much got 
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Hey! Remember the Jonas Brothers? Those teen dreams that were banished to limbo upon the arrival of the one called Bieber? Well, they returned alongside costar Demi Lovato for the Disney Channel sequel 
The great war against Satan becomes a lot more complicated in the 5th season of 
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While it’s not the Blu-Ray editions that everyone (me included) was hoping for, the new special editions of the Back To The Future trilogy are worth a look see. The original 
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Also hitting Blu-Ray is David Cronenberg’s surprisingly accessible 
Uber-curmudgeon Victor Meldrew returns in the 
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When all hell breaks loose in a small town, are you going to call the police? No. The FBI? No. The military? Of course not! Ninjas? THEY DON’T HAVE PHONES!! No, the person you’re going to call to sort it all out is B-movie legend Bruce Campbell – and that’s just what the small town of Gold Lick does in the fun little goof 
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It’s by no means a disaster, but it certainly would have been nice if Bernie Mac’s final film were better. 
The Blu-Ray catalogue express pulls up to the station with another carload full of titles, this time straight from Fox. Getting the high definition treatment are the much-requested 
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It can be plodding, but Spike Lee’s 
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Shout Factory picks up the ball after Universal walked away following the release of the first season with 
We still don’t have the original 60’s series (I want it more than a hula hoop), but we get another Alvin & The Chipmunks themed episode collection, 
Yeah, I tried. Still don’t like 
See, I remember watching Daily Show correspondent John Oliver on UK shows like Mock The Week long before he crossed the pond to take up residence on US TV. With that in mind, I was delighted when Comedy Central decided to give him a stand up spotlight with 
I love a good gadget. We all do. What better gadget is there for the average geek than one that potentially makes you look absurd when its in use? Such is the case with the 
If you thought that Mr. Show was an endearingly bizarre collection of surreality in sketch form, then – like me – you will revel in (and laugh at) Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher’s 
My only real disappointment with the Blu-Ray arrival of the uneven-but-still better-than The Batman first season of the animated 
After far too long an absence – and numerous health problems – Dana Carvey has returned with a brand new stand-up special – his first in almost 12 years – 
Showtime’s loveable sociopath returns for a second season, and I have to agree with most of the fans – there was something off about season 2 of 
Get a healthy reminder of what to avoid this election season by picking up the extended “Election Year Edition” of Oliver Stone’s flawed-but-riveting 
Why is it that we get bucketfuls of tripe on TV here in the US, but the UK gets a wonderfully quirky rom-sit-com like 
If only more lawyers were like Perry Mason and less like they actually are, the world would probably be a better place. Judge for yourself with the first volume of 
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A new Fletch film seems permanently grounded, but both of the original Chevy Chase-starring vehicles starring Gregory McDonald’s investigative reporter – Fletch and Fletch Lives – are now available in 
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The doctor is back with a bunch of bizarre, incredibly rare maladies and the increasingly tedious grumpy manner in the fourth season of 
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What started out as a promising show has become largely forgettable with the third season of 
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Not since the feature film itself have I seen something so horribly, awkwardly designed as the new 
Raise your hands, anyone who voiced – or even felt – a desire for a sequel to The Scorpion King. You will now be shot. Yes, there is now